Most commentators offering opinions on Middle East peace assure us that the Palestinians want a peaceful two-state solution (“Obama opens talks on Mideast peace,” Web, News, Wednesday). But just what Palestinians are they talking about? Those in Hamas-controlled Gaza who make no secret of their desire to destroy Israel, or Israel’s interlocutors in the West Bank who refuse to include Israel on maps of the region because they consider Israel illegitimate?

No one suggests a solution to the existential problem of Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, as if the threat will disappear if we refuse to acknowledge its existence. Let’s not forget that Israel withdrew voluntarily from both southern Lebanon and Gaza only to see irredentist anti-Semites move in and provoke armed confrontations. The same possibility must be considered with the West Bank.

As long as these threats to Israel remain, even an agreement with the Palestinian Authority for a truncated West Bank state will be nothing more than a feel-good measure doomed to fail.